WE are now to enter on those terrible persecutions, alas, so indissolubly linked with Waldensian story.
Not that we can attempt here anything like a history of these persecutions, but only bring before our readers, some of those more eventful scenes, which while revealing, on the one hand, how dark and cruel the heart of man is when led on by Satan against Go& show, too, on the other, how they can endure with meekness, who are called to suffer for righteousness sake.
We should have to go back to the days of the early Christians, to the persecutions under the cruel Nero or Domitian, to find a parallel of the inhuman sufferings that were almost without intermission inflicted upon the Waldenses.
Were there not abundant testimony, we should hesitate to believe that the barbarities we have to record were really perpetrated. But such is the undeniable fact. For a period extending over more than three centuries, this devoted people were the objects of incessant persecution, the avowed purpose being no less than their utter extirpation.
But, it may be asked, what gave rise to these persecutions? Were the Vaudois not a loyal people, not subject to their rulers, refusing their lawful claims? On the contrary, they were a most loyal and peaceable community. Their rulers, and indeed their enemies, have admitted this in all ages. No, they were not persecuted on this ground; the persecution was from without. And though we shall find that the Vaudois often suffered from the hands of their native princes, it was only as led on by him who not only wielded his spiritual scepter over the seven hills of Rome, but before whom temporal princes had been compelled to bow, and without question to obey. In short, the Waldensian persecutions had but one source, the Papal power. It was from thence those cruel edicts came forth, that without distinction, committed all to destruction who would not submit to the authority of the true church? This was the great test. And this was the test now submitted to the Waldenses.
Would they give up their heresies; would they yield absolute submission to Rome? We know that they would not. They chose rather to suffer persecution than to admit that to be true which was so utterly false and evil.
But few and feeble in early ages, the Romish Church, no doubt, viewed with indifference, if not with contempt, the first protestations of the Waldenses. She was far too absorbed with the increase of her spiritual and temporal dominion, and her successful efforts at obtaining complete supremacy, to be much concerned at the puny opposition of the humble mountaineers. But, as time went on, and the Waldensian doctrines spread, this indifference grew into distrust, until at length, about the year 1200, Pope Innocent III. with a far-seeing eye, discerned in this movement a germ that, if not destroyed, would in time develop and subvert the whole Papal system. " With anxious forebodings," says the historian, " he watched this spirit of religious independence, but how to crush it effectually was the question." The plan at length devised was as infamous as it was cruel and effectual.
A great crusade, such as had been led by Peter the Hermit, to drive out the infidels from the Holy-Land, was proclaimed against the heretics. Their provinces were to be desolated, their cities razed to the ground; and they themselves utterly destroyed. The faithful throughout Europe were summoned to join the holy cause for the uprooting of the heretical pest, and the vindication of the true Church. We shudder to record the inducement that was held out to those who would enter on this crusade. " They were told that to shed the blood of the heretics, was to wash away their own sins-and would atone for all the vices and crimes of a lifetime I If, perchance, they died in this holy cause, they had the word of the Pope that at the moment of death they should find the angels prepared to carry them aloft, the gates of Paradise open for their reception, and the crowns and delights of the upper world waiting their choice." But this was not all. A more tempting prospect was the share promised in the spoils. As a reward for their faithfulness, the wealth and possessions of the heretics should become theirs.
Dazzled with so golden a prospect of present gain, and of future bliss, thousands flocked to the banner of the Pope's legate, to join the new crusade. Amongst them were some of the most abandoned and profligate characters in Europe, men who had passed all their lives in camps and battle-fields, and were now lured on by the hopes of fresh spoils.
Such was the array, variously estimated at from fifty to five hundred thousand, that Pope Innocent III. was preparing to let loose on a simple, harmless, and unoffending people, whose only crime was refusing to submit to the supremacy of Rome!
This was the famous crusade against the Albigenses, a people identical with the Waldenses in regard to the purity of their faith, but who dwelt on the French as the Waldenses on the Italian, side of the Alps. History intimately connects them with the latter.
We shall now give some account of the progress of this crusade before entering upon the persecutions of the Waldenses of Piedmont, which began at a later date.
The mighty host thus gathered together was formed into three great armies, over each of which presided an archbishop, a bishop, and mitered abbot. But the soul of the movement was the notorious Simon de Montfort, one of the darkest names in the annals of persecution. The abbot Arnold (well called the dragon-abbot) was the spiritual, as De Montfort was the military leader, of the hosts. And now they poured over the rich provinces of the Albigenses, " Forward" was the cry of the holy abbot. " You shall ravage every field, you shall slay every human being; strike and spare not. The measure of their iniquity is full, and the blessing of the Church, is on your head." Thus commanded of the priest, the vast army marched through the land of vineyards, and of olive-yards, burning, slaying, ravaging as they went, the peasantry being ridden down and slaughtered in cold blood.
Little or no resistance could be offered in the open country, against so overwhelming and infuriated a host. But the great cities did not as readily submit to be butchered in cold blood. The inhabitants closed their gates on the approach of the crusaders, and when summoned, refused to surrender. The terrrible fate of Beziers and Carcassonne, two of the principal cities of the Albigenses, is thus recorded: " The soldiers of the cross, the priests of the Lord," as they called themselves appeared before Beziers: which had been well provisioned and garrisoned. The bishop of the place was in the army; he was allowed by Arnold to offer his advice to the people and recommend a surrender; " Renounce your opinions, and save your lives " was the bishop's advice; but the Albigenses firmly replied that they would not renounce a faith which gave them the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. "Then," said Arnold, " there shall not be left one stone upon another fire and sword shall devour men, women, and children." The town fell into the hands of the besiegers, and fearfully was the injunction obeyed. The knights, pausing at the gates, asked the abbot how the soldiers were to distinguish Catholics from heretics; " Slay them all," he replied, " the Lord knoweth them that are His." The slaughter began: men, women, children, and clergy were massacred indiscriminately, while the bells of the cathedral were rung till the slaughter was complete. Trembling multitudes fled to the churches, in hope of finding a sanctuary within the hallowed walls; but not one human being was left alive. The vast population of Beziers, who so lately had thronged the streets and marts, now lay in slaughtered heaps. The numbers, thus slain are estimated variously from twenty to one hundred thousand. The city was given up to plunder, then set on fire."
Having thus completed their bloody work at Beziers, the crusade moved on to Carcassonne, to inflict a similar vengeance on that devoted city. It is thus graphically described: " The terrible fate which had overtaken Beziers-in one day converted into a mound of ruins, dreary and silent as any on the plains of Chaldea-told the other towns and villages the destiny that awaited them. The inhabitants, terror stricken, fled to the woods and caves. Even the strong castles were left tenantless, deeming it vain to think of opposing so furious and overwhelming a host. Pillaging, burning, and massacring, the crusaders advanced to Carcassonne. The city stood on the right bank of the Ande, its fortifications were strong, its garrison numerous and brave, and the young count Raymond Roger, was at their head. The assailants advanced to the walls, but met a stout resistance. The attack was again and again renewed, but was as often repulsed. Meanwhile, the forty days' service was at an end, and bands of crusaders, having fulfilled their term, and earned heaven, were departing to their homes. The Papal legate, seeing the host melting away, judged it perfectly right to call wiles to the aid of his arms. Holding out to Raymond Roger the hope of an honorable capitulation, and swearing to respect his liberty, Arnold induced the viscount to present himself at his tent. The latter,' says Sismondi, profoundly penetrated with the maxim of Innocent III. that to keep faith with those that have it not is an offense against the faith, caused the young viscount to be arrested, and all the knights who had followed him.
" When the garrison saw that their leader had been imprisoned, they resolved along with the inhabitants, to make their escape over-night by a secret passage known only to themselves. The crusaders were astonished on the morrow, when not a man could be seen upon the walls; and still more mortified was the Papal legate to find that his prey had escaped him, for his purpose was to make a bonfire of the city, with every man, woman, and child within it. But if this greater revenge was now out of his reach, he did not disdain a smaller one still in his power. He collected a body of some 450 persons, partly fugitives from Carcassonne whom he had captured, and partly the 300 knights who had accompanied the viscount and of these he burned 400 alive, and the remaining 50 he banged."
Such were the principal scenes enacted in this terrible crusade against the Albigenses, an inhuman wickedness without a parallel even in the history of crimes. While we blush to think the human heart capable of such enormities, we cannot forget that a just retribution surely awaits the guilty souls of those who committed them. How unspeakably solemn is that woe pronounced by our Lord, " Whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depths of the sea " (Matt. 18:66But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea. (Matthew 18:6)).